Deuteronomy 12 - Introduction

1 Monuments of Idolatrie are to be destroyed.

5 The place of Gods seruice is to be kept. 15,

23 Blood is forbidden. 17, 20,

26 Holy things must bee eaten in the Holy place.

19 The Leuite is not to be forsaken.

29 Idolatrie is not be inquired after.

1 These are the Statutes, and Iudgements, which ye shal obserue to do, in the land which the Lord God of thy fathers giueth thee to possesse it, all the dayes that yee liue vpon the earth.

2 [Note: Deuteronomy 7:5.] Yee shall vtterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which yee shall [Note: Or, inherite.] possesse, serued their gods, vpon the high mountaines, and vpon the hils, and vnder euery greene tree.

3 And [Note: Judges 2:2.] you shall [Note: Hebrew: break downe.] ouerthrow their altars, and breake their pillars, and burne their groues with fire, and you shall hew downe the grauen images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

4 Yee shall not doe so vnto the Lord your God.

5 But vnto the place which the Lord your God shall [Note: 1 Kings 8:29; 2 Chronicles 7:12.] chuse out of all your tribes, to put his name there, euen vnto his habitation shall yee seeke, and thither thou shalt come:

6 And thither yee shall bring your burnt offrings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heaue offrings of your hand, and your vowes, and your free wil offerings, and the firstlings of your heards, and of your flocks.

7 And there ye shall eate before the Lord your God, and yee shall reioyce in all that you put your hand vnto, ye and your housholds, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.

8 Ye shall not do after all the things that we doe here this day, euery man whatsoeuer is right in his owne eyes.

9 For yee are not as yet come to the rest, and to the inheritance which the

[The place of burnt offrings.]

Lord your God giueth you.

10 But when yee goe ouer Iordan, and dwel in the land which the Lord your God giueth you to inherite, and when he giueth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety:

11 Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there, thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heaue offring of your hand, & all [Note: Hebrew: the choice of your vowes.] your choice vowes, which ye vow vnto the Lord.

12 And yee shall reioyce before the Lord your God, ye and your sonnes and your daughters, and your men seruants, and your maid seruants, and the Leuite that is within your gates, forasmuch as [Note: Deuteronomy 10:9.] hee hath no part nor inheritance with you.

13 Take heed to thy selfe, that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in euery place that thou seest:

14 But in the place which the Lord shal choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.

15 Notwithstanding, thou mayest kill and eate flesh in all thy gates, whatsoeuer thy soule lusteth after, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath giuen thee: the vncleane and the cleane may eate thereof, as of the Roe bucke, and as of the Hart.

16 [Note: Deuteronomy 15:23.] Onely ye shall not eat the blood: yee shall powre it vpon the earth as water.

17 Thou mayest not eate within thy gates the tithe of thy corne, or of thy wine, or of thy oyle, or the firstlings of thy heards, or of thy flocke, nor any of thy vowes which thou vowest, nor thy free will offerings, or heaue offering of thine hand:

18 But thou must eate them before the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou and thy sonne, and thy daughter, and thy man seruant, and thy maid seruant, and the Leuite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt reioyce before the Lord thy God, in all that thou puttest thine hands vnto.

19 [Note: Deuteronomy 14:27; Sir 7:31.] Take heed to thy selfe, that thou forsake not the Leuite, as [Note: Hebrew: al thy dayes.] long as thou liuest vpon the earth.

[Eate no blood.]

20 When the Lord thy God shall enlarge thy border, [Note: Genesis 28:14; Deuteronomy 19:9.] as hee hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eate flesh (because thy soule longeth to eat flesh) thou mayest eat flesh whatsoeuer thy soule lusteth after.

21 If the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to put his Name there, be too farre from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flocke, which the Lord hath giuen thee, as I haue commaunded thee, and thou shalt eate in thy gates, whatsoeuer thy soule lusteth after.

22 Euen as the Roe bucke and the Hart is eaten, so thou shalt eate them: the vncleane and the cleane shall eate of them alike.

23 Onely [Note: Hebrew: bee strong.] be sure that thou eate not the blood: for the blood is the life, and thou mayest not eate the life with the flesh.

24 Thou shalt not eate it; thou shalt powre it vpon the earth as water.

25 Thou shalt not eate it, that it may goe well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt doe that which is right in the sight of the Lord.

26 Onely thy holy things which thou hast, and thy vowes, thou shalt take, and goe vnto the place which the Lord shall chuse.

27 And thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, vpon the altar of the Lord thy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be powred out vpon the altar of the Lord thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.

28 Obserue & heare all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for euer, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God.

29 When the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possesse them, and thou [Note: Hebrew: inheritest or possessest them.] succeedest them, and dwellest in their land:

30 Take heede to thy selfe that thou be not snared [Note: Hebrew: after them.] by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee, and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serue their gods? euen so will I doe likewise.

31 Thou shalt not doe so vnto the Lord thy God: for euery [Note: Hebrew: abomination of the.] abomination

[Flee idolatrie.]

to the Lord which hee hateth, haue they done vnto their gods: for euen their sonnes and their daughters they haue burnt in the fire to their gods.

32 What thing soeuer I command you, obserue to doe it: [Note: Deuteronomy 4:2 Joshua 1:7; Proverbs 30:6; Revelation 22:18.] thou shalt not adde thereto, nor diminish from it.